Following years of preventive and legislative efforts to positively affect the health of children, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson announced that the rise in obesity and drop in fitness levels have stabilized in California students. The results are in a peer-reviewed report titled "Obesity and Physical Fitness in California School Children," published in the American Heart Journal.

Three local students were recognized at the Merced County Speech Festival awards ceremony held Feb. 29. Students were given three speech topics to choose from, fourth and fifth grades speech topics centered around healthy eating habits and one of the favorite topics was "If the saying were true, 'You are what you eat,' who would you be? How could you make a difference at home or school with regards to nutrition?"

Julien Elementary sixth grader Megan Vanhoogmoed and Denair Middle School sixth grader Matthew Heffe will be among a group of about 25 exceptional young people who will represent the region as ambassadors during a two-week visit to England and France this summer. Turlock Junior High seventh grader Whitney Perry will be part of another delegation bound for England and France, as well as Germany, The Netherlands and Switzerland

Denair Unified School District is part of a California Department of Education list of 127 school districts with "serious financial challenges," meaning they either will not or may not meet financial obligations this year or in the next two years.

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tom Torlakson recently unveiled his Career Readiness Initiative designed to help lower dropout rates and provide graduates with career readiness skills to enter the workforce or pursue higher education.

2008 Sacred Heart graduate, Mia DiGiovanni (now a senior at Central Catholic), commissioned the help of Sacred Heart students to make dozens of valentines for a special delivery to patients and their family members at Emanuel Cancer Center in Turlock.